Opinion

The funniest scene in the funniest television program was the moment in the old “Andy Griffith Show” when Gomer Pyle makes a citizen’s arrest of Barney Fife on the Main Street of Mayberry. And does the idea ever have staying power.

Some years ago we realized that the best way to shake off the dreary midwinter doldrums is to force yourself to do something you haven’t done before.

It would be good for us all if the TV and online weather offerings gave equal time to news, like the fact that 2023 was the hottest year worldwide in more than 150 years.

As if all its billions weren’t enough, the N.F.L. gets into bed with DraftKings.

If you’ve ever shopped at Erewhon, you’re most likely aware that the luxury grocery store is the trendiest place in Los Angeles to see and be seen. The hype is real, the shopping experience far from ordinary.

The New Year’s Day plunges here were communal convocations as reassuring as any you’d find at a church or at any other gathering.

I am continually struck by how few attempts there have been at real-world data collection regarding the beaches here.

Has the zeitgeist ever felt so apocalyptic?

Among all of the fund-raisers that go on here, not one makes so much money in so little time as the Jan. 1 “polar” plunges.

A letter writer this week floated the idea that this newspaper sponsor a contest for the best business district holiday decorations next December.

The efficacy, benefits, and weirdness of hypnosis.

Much of what ails the world today is a result of Western governments arbitrarily dividing foreign lands that they have colonized or occupied with no consideration of national sovereignty or demographics.

Aside from world peace, what else am I wishing in vain for in the new year, immortality apparently being out of the question? I’m just hoping to stay connected.

My grandmother was born in the house that makes up the core of town offices on Pantigo Road. With a new supervisor taking the corner office there, it seemed a good time to offer up a bit of its history.

I tend to refer to cocktails of various kinds, but that’s not so much because I’m a drinker, as that I like the idea of a well-stocked bar cart of shiny bottles.

It was time for East Hampton Town Hall to join many other New York municipal governments in hiring a professional administrator to oversee both budgetary and day-to-day functions.

Non-standard motorized vehicles have been a big problem in resort locations for a long time.

Another lame-ass winter brings thoughts of cabin life up north. Way up north.

Anyone seeking an antidote to pervasive fear may find it in focusing on the good that might be coming our way right now — that way we can receive it, spread it around, and give it life.

The language-learning app Babbel this month released its annual list of the most-mispronounced words of 2023.

Vermont’s aging population is pleading for help up there, and people who want to work in this country are being beaten back at the Rio Grande. Go figure.

American men start to pick up books on Rome or dial in the History Channel for its endless depictions of gladiators and battle strategy almost the minute they turn 50.

I’m not a Christian, exactly, but I do believe in the winter solstice celebration of lights. The older I get, the closer I feel to ancestral rituals involving trees and bonfires.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul did something of huge importance this week when she signed a bill that could lead the way for the state to make reparation payments to the descendants of the state’s enslaved people.

Who says it’s passé? Good news and fine times in a YouTube music search.

A nod to the hard-working, industrious folk slogging through the infamous East End traffic to keep the place functioning.

If Greece and Turkey could reach a rapprochement it would not be too far-fetched to imagine that other ancient antipathies could be similarly dealt with. One can hope.

My parents’ generation had a pretty good idea of how to have a good time.

It’s important to “be of good cheer,” as the old folks used to say, not just during the winter holiday weeks but all year long.

Sometimes all you want in life is a little something that makes you happy, tiny tweaks to public spaces that would make your life better. Are you listening, State Highway Department or Department of Public Works?